Credit Card Companies Willing to Deal Over Debt
The New York Times published a new interesting Article on Credit Card Debt and Banks willingness to negotiate.
Bank of America says it eased off on more than 700,000 credit card holders in 2008, lowering interest rates and some balances.
Lenders are not being charitable. They are simply trying to protect themselves.
Banks and card companies are bracing for a wave of defaults on credit card debt in early 2009, and they are vying with each other to get paid first. Besides, the sooner people get their financial houses in order, the sooner they can start borrowing again.
So even as many banks cut consumers’ credit lines, raise card fees and generally pull back on lending, some lenders are trying to give customers a little wiggle room. Bank of America, for instance, says it has waived late fees, lowered interest charges and, in some cases, reduced loan balances for more than 700,000 credit card holders in 2008.
American Express and Chase Card Services say they are taking similar actions as more customers fall behind on their bills. Every major credit card lender is giving its collection agents more leeway to make adjustments for consumers in financial distress.
“Consumers have never been in a better position to negotiate a partial payment,” said Robert D. Manning, the author of “Credit Card Nation” and a longtime critic of the credit card industry. “It’s like that old movie ‘Rosalie Goes Shopping.’ When it’s $100,000 of debt, it’s your problem. When it’s a million dollars of debt, it’s the bank’s problem.”
Debt Settlement Companies like www.netdebt.com should gain from this change in philosophy.
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Aug 9, 2009 - 01:08:28Credit card companies should help their customers to deal with their debts.They are the one’s who are responsible for these high rate of credit card debts.Lowering the interest rates will be a good idea.
This is really great news.They should take some brave decisions like writing off a small amount of the debts or cutting down the interest rates or some thing like that.
I really need to know why they are waiting for taking such a crucial decision.This should have been taken months before.
Writing off those debts will not be accepted by these banks because that will cause their money lose.I think it is better to lower the interest rates.
The cutting down of interest rate is a good step, I may expect some more good decisions for getting the problem solved. Thanks a lot.